


Fireworks

by skargasm



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:35:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22284961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skargasm/pseuds/skargasm
Summary: A 'blind' Sunnydaler spends Bonfire Night with the Scoobies..... A Bonfire Night story written for Fall for Spike/Xander over on Livejournal
Relationships: Rupert Giles/Anya Jenkins, Tara Maclay/Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris/Spike
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	Fireworks

> _Remember, remember, the fifth of November  
>  Gunpowder, treason and plot  
>  I see no reason why gunpowder, treason  
>  Should ever be forgot_

Standing in the coolness of the night air, admiring the bonfire, Ryan once more considered his hosts and his girlfriend's other friends. There was something decidedly 'off' about all of them that he couldn't quite put his finger on, and occasionally at least two of them set the hairs on the back of his neck to rising.

His girlfriend's best female friend was a rather attractive redhead by the name of Willow, and Ryan didn't mind admitting to himself that if he had seen her first, he would probably be attending this Bonfire Party with a redhead instead of a blonde. Although he had to admit, he rarely got to see her without _her_ very shy friend. Tara's dark blonde head was nearly always bent down, and he had only looked her in the eye once or twice in the month since he had first met them. This was in no way a hindrance to the occasional fantasies he had had of the redhead and blonde putting on a little show for him, although he did feel a little guilty for his lesbian fantasies when it was obvious they were just friends.

The older gentleman did confuse him a bit. Why Buffy still spent so much time with her old high school librarian was a mystery but he seemed like a nice man, albeit a little bit dull. _His_ girlfriend, on the other hand, was the furthest from dull you could get. She quite often commented on their sex life, the number of orgasms she had experienced the last time they had sex, and on his last visit to the Magic Box advised him not to sit on his first choice of chair as she and Rupert had damaged it slightly in their play of the previous evening and were waiting for Xander to have a chance to reinforce it. He just couldn't imagine Rupert keeping up with her, let alone getting down and dirty in the shop but no-one else seemed to disbelieve her. The Magic Box itself had fascinated him until he realised it was full of dusty old books and weird bottles of things that he preferred not examine too closely. If Rupert wanted to cater to the people who felt the need to invent supernatural happenings to liven up the mundane it was a good business decision and Ryan was quietly impressed. 

Their hosts for the evening completely confused him. Buffy and 'Spike' _(what kind of name was Spike?)_ spent all of their time snarking at each other, threatening dismemberment and violence but nobody looked at them askance. It was a different side to the perky blonde girl he was dating, and he wasn't quite sure how he felt about it. Spike was a bit of an 80s throwback, with his bleached blond hair and tight black clothes, and he was a little bit older than all of them at around 23. Spike seemed a little bit effeminate, and he did wonder if perhaps he had a something of a crush on Xander although the way they talked to each other was less than kind. Spike insisted on calling Xander 'Harris' or 'boy', whilst Xander called him 'Fang' or 'Bleached Menace'. The nickname of Fang seemed a tad cruel since it obviously referred to Spike's over-long canine teeth, and Ryan was a bit disappointed that Xander would point out such a cosmetic blemish – it was well known that the British were pretty clueless when it came to dentistry. Ryan wondered if Xander was aware that the blond man was attracted to him? Xander seemed completely straight, working in construction and apparently quite 'manly' although he did surround himself with mainly women. 

Which brought him nicely to the reason they were all here. Xander had arranged a Bonfire Night celebration and invited them all to attend. He had set up quite a large bonfire at the far end of the garden, throwing potatoes at the bottom to bake. There was a ginormous box of fireworks, a grill was set up in the corner with burgers cooking, and Xander was wearing an apron that said 'Don't bite the cook' as he bustled around getting everyone drinks and taking their orders for food. Spike was being less than helpful, standing to one side making sarcastic comments about Xander's cooking abilities while smoking furiously.

“Oooh I'll have a double burger please Xan – last night was a busy one. I think I sla- er, caught quite a few, em, animals and had to deal with them.”

“Remind me, sweetheart, why you go out at night to catalogue animals? I could understand it if it counted towards your degree in some way, but it seems completely unrelated.” Sipping his beer, Ryan looked inquisitively at his girlfriend who for some reason was flushed quite red. 

“Errm, I do it for Giles! It's a British thing – he likes to keep track of the umm.....”

“Indigenous wildlife. Yes, it's quite fascinating to see what creatures have made it from the Motherland as it were and Buffy has kindly volunteered to help me. Pass the butter please Willow.”

“But surely - “

“Heads up, Slayer, we've got incoming!” Ryan watched with complete horror as a large group of people leapt over the back fence and headed directly for them. What the hell?! As he stood transfixed, he watched as Buffy threw herself into the group, kicking, punching and shoving men twice her size around as though they weighed nothing. He could only keep track of her by the bobble on the top of her hat as it whirled and danced around. 

Spike had thrown his cigarette away and joined the fray and Ryan swiftly amended his thoughts about the blond being effeminate. He was a whirling machine of destruction, taking on three or four of the intruders at a time, tossing them around like driftwood as they threw themselves at him. The glow from the firelight mutated their features until it looked like their eyes were glowing and some of them even had the appearance of fangs! In a corner of his mind not given over to hysteria, Ryan wondered if they were British friends of Spike's – it would explain the dentistry work if nothing else! 

Four of them managed to circumvent Buffy and Spike, and headed towards the other members of the group and Ryan squeezed himself into a corner, watching agog as Xander used the wooden handle on his barbecue fork to literally stab one of them. He'd read about the many BBQ fork injuries suffered in town but had never thought so see one actually perpetrated in front of him! Blinking hard, Ryan was sure he was seeing things as the man Xander was fighting appeared skeletal before turning into a pile of dust. He sneezed, coughed and blinked even harder as he got a faceful of said dust, and that _definitely_ explained why he thought he saw Buffy throwing several of them into the bonfire whilst Spike ripped heads off with abandon.

Tara and Willow were holding hands and chanting – not that he could blame them, it was quite a scary happening and if singing to themselves while clinging together made them feel a bit safer then more power to them. He was shocked by several bolts of lightning that seemed to aim directly for some of their attackers, striking them down and somehow making them disappear in a shower of dust. Of course, his eyes were burning by this point so he couldn't see clearly what had happened to them. He did see enough to watch as Rupert was tossed to one side, smacking his head against a wall and possibly giving himself quite a severe concussion. Anya took this badly, beating his attacker around the head and shoulders with a heavy tray, pushing him backwards towards Xander's ready barbecue fork. 

The whole attack couldn't have taken more than fifteen minutes, their attackers running off and Buffy and Spike walking back down the garden. 

“Soddin' told the boy, no self-respecting Master Vampire celebrates Bonfire Night – o'course they were gonna attack. But he was determined – said he wanted to celebrate summat British. Makes me look tame it does, bloody insultin'.”

“Oh get over it, Spike, that was fun and you know it!! Did you see the look at that one's face when he fell over some of the potatoes into the fire? That was priceless!”

“Yeah, there was one nit who was so busy watching that, he barely noticed when I ripped his head off. Don't get the same class of minions as you used to in my day...”

“Everyone alright?” Buffy asked as they returned to the group. Anya was kneeling next to Rupert, stroking his arm soothingly. 

“It doesn't look like Rupert has suffered concussion, although judging by his complaint of a headache it would seem I won't be getting any orgasms tonight.” 

“All good here. I managed to protect the burgers so no extra ash in our food tonight. Would my favourite Wiccas like their veggie burgers now or later?” Tara and Willow smiled at Xander, nodding in agreement, while Ryan was left staring open-mouthed at their casual attitude to being attacked. 

“Buffy! Surely we should call the police or something? I mean, those men attacked from nowhere....”

“Oh get a grip you great nancy! That was nothing but an appetiser – nice bit of violence to start the evening off. An' of course, there's nothing better after a spot of violence than -”

“SPIKE!!! Ryan doesn't need to hear your philosophy on the three F's thank you so much!” 

“Was only sayin'. Can't believe you're dating one of the wilfully blind, Slayer. He might look like the Magnificent Poof but he definitely hasn't got his brain 'as he?!” Completely confused, Ryan looked between Spike and Buffy. Who was wilfully blind, and who the heck was the Magnificent Poof? 

“Listen, mate, I don't know what - “

“Oh shut it, cannon fodder. 'sides, I guess it's her choice who she dates. Come 'ere, Pet, your conquering hero deserves his reward.” and before Ryan's shocked gaze, Spike swept Xander into a tight embrace and proceeded to kiss him quite passionately in front of all of them! 

Looking around, expecting _some_ comment from the others, Ryan was shocked to see a wry grimace on Rupert's face, an assessing look from Anya, a definitely 'awwww' look from Willow and Tara, and Buffy making an 'ewwww' face before completely ignoring it! And even more horrific and baffling was the fact that Spike's eyes seem to be glowing golden and his teeth were definitely longer – Ryan was quite sure he had had enough.

“Look, Buffy, it's not that I haven't had an – well, _interesting_ time – but I think I might need to call it a night. This has been very -”

“It's okay Ryan, I get it. I wish there was just _one_ night I could have off without.....”

“Yes, er – I think I'll be leaving now. Thank you very much for an entertaining night everyone.” Ryan hurried through his thanks and strode towards the door, desperate to leave. Gorgeous she might be in a very blonde, pretty way, but he didn't think being with Buffy was worth putting up with her very strange friends and the regular bizarre instances that happened whenever they went out for a date in the evening.

* * *

“Blimey, Slayer, where did ya meet that one?? He was a bit vacuous, even for you!” Finally releasing Xander who had that nasty habit of needing to breathe, Spike watched as Ryan left quickly. God, the bint was absolutely useless at picking 'em – he had half a mind to get Peaches to come visit and give her a good seeing to, sort her out once and for all. 

“Thanks for the dating advice, but no thanks Mr Undead Guy. Xander, Spike's picking on me!” Buffy whined but Spike just smirked, well aware that Xander would be useless as a referee since he was still in his post-snog haze as Spike liked to call it. 

“Er, yes, Buffy – I do think it was rather ill advised of you to expose Ryan to the darker side of things with such little warning. I think we should all consider ourselves quite lucky that he is one of the wilfully blind otherwise that could have been extremely difficult to explain.” Cleaning his glasses, Giles finally stopped soaking up the sympathy from Anya and stood up. 

“Huh?!”

“Never mind Buffy.” 

“Oooh, can we have the sparklers now?” 

“Just remember to keep them away from the more flammable amongst us, eh. Don't fancy turning into vampire flambé cos you kids got over-excited!”

“Yes Spike!” they all chorused and he hid his smile behind a sneer, heading towards the kitchen for the bottle of the good stuff. He watched through the window as his boy finished off cooking the burgers, the Watcher dived into the box of fireworks and started lining them up for later, and the three girls lit sparklers and began to write their names in the night sky. 

So what if the minions and demons at the Hellmouth thought he was a whipped, tame vamp for having Bonfire Night parties, he knew how lucky he was. Unchipped thanks to the Slayer and Rupert sticking to their word, friends with two of the most powerful witches he'd ever met, and loved by the most loyal Scooby ever who was insistent that they celebrate things important to him as much as the American traditions. Knocking back a glass of whisky, Spike saluted the sky – happy Bonfire Night indeed.

* * *

fin

* * *


End file.
